Urban Cycling InstituteUrban Cycling Institute brings knowledge on urban cycling from science to practice and backhttp://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/
Learning by doing: a closer look at the exportation of Dutch cycling knowledgeFri, 17 Feb 2017 07:11:11 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/learning-by-doing-a-closer-look-at-the-exportation-of-dutch-cyc
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/learning-by-doing-a-closer-look-at-the-exportation-of-dutch-cyc<p>The City of Amsterdam estimated, conservatively, that in 2015 over 150 international delegations of varying size came to Amsterdam to, generally, <em>learn about Dutch cycling</em>. With nearly half of all trips made by bike (depending on neighborhood), the city and region are deemed an inspiring example for others to follow. It’s historical, geographical and social diversity in cycling makes it an ideal ‘Living Lab’ for learning. Groups of city officials and professionals swarm to Amsterdam to soak up every bit of knowledge and practice surrounding infrastructure, design, communication, transport and built environment policies that have contributed to such an inspiring “cycling city” success story. Academic institutions are equally in demand for structured learning opportunities, real-world application and skill-building for students and courses like <a href="http://gsss.uva.nl/summer-winter/summer/content11/planning-the-cycling-city.html">Planning the Cycling City</a> are a result of this demand.</p><p>My PhD research will focus on unraveling the role of learning, teaching and the built environment in the transferability of Dutch urban cycling policies and practices to contexts abroad. The research aims to add to the debates on policy transfer, -learning, -tourism, innovation diffusion using knowledge from education, anthropology, and policy mobilities. The research will gather results from the Interreg project CYCLEWALK (2017-2121) wherein five EU countries are increasing their knowledge and practice around walking and cycling policies and infrastructure, using Dutch practices as a frame of reference and inspiration. The project will kick-off in Amsterdam on April 5, 2017. The following article blueprints my preliminary research ideas. </p><h3><p><strong>Policy transfer: procuring a cycling city</strong></p></h3><p>Good ideas are spread from one city to another. In this digital, global age, ideas spread more quickly and further than ever before. Simply...<a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/learning-by-doing-a-closer-look-at-the-exportation-of-dutch-cyc>Read More</a>(Experienced) travel time of cyclistsFri, 27 Jan 2017 13:08:13 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/experienced-travel-time-of-cyclists
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/experienced-travel-time-of-cyclists<h3><p>Experienced travel time as policy instrument</p></h3><p>The <em>experience</em> of travel time might play a central role in the mode choice and route choice of cyclists. A small field study between Utrecht Central Station and the Ravellaan showed that cyclists often choose a longer route because they considered it as more pleasant and they often <em>perceived</em> it as being shorter (Goudappel Coffeng, 2012). Similar findings, also from Utrecht, were reported by <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692313000203">Van Duppen and Spierings (2013)</a>. This raises questions on the potential of these notions for cycling policies: How important is real travel time in comparison to perceived time? What do relatively boring cycle highways do in terms of experience? How does perceived stress influence route- and mode choice? Or comfort? How can insights on this be used to improve transport models and cost-benefit analyses?</p><p>Together with Goudappel Coffeng, we are doing a crowdfunded research project to find answers on these questions.</p><a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/experienced-travel-time-of-cyclists>Read More</a>Een insider-outsider perspectief op de fietszwermTue, 08 Mar 2016 14:05:00 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/een-insider-outsider-perspectief-op-de-fietszwerm
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/een-insider-outsider-perspectief-op-de-fietszwerm<p>‘Dus dit is waar ik elke ochtend doorheen moet? Nog voor mijn eerste kopje koffie!’ Verbijsterd observeer ik samen met Bas Blokker de ochtendspits van 13 mei 2013 op het kruispunt Vondelpark-Amstelveenseweg in Amsterdam. De verkeerslichten zijn toevallig uitgevallen en het gaat af en toe maar nét goed. Bas heeft me uitgenodigd om te zoeken naar patronen in het – op het eerste gezicht chaotische – <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nrc.nl/handelsblad/2013/05/14/fietsers-die-zijn-als-een-een-zwerm-spreeuwen-1246434">gedrag van de roemruchte Amsterdamse fietsers</a>. Drie jaar later constateer ik dat deze dag een belangrijk keerpunt voor me was.</p><p>Tot dan toe had ik al 1 keer rond de wereld gefietst in Amsterdam: 40.000 kilometer woon-werkverkeer. Onbewust van waarom dit zo gewoon voor mij, maar zo fascinerend voor toeristen was. Onbewust waarom ik me als een <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow">vis in het water</a> voelde. Onbewust ook voor wat dit alles betekende voor de stad en samenleving. Om <em>the Matrix</em> te parafraseren: <em>You take the blue pill and you cycle on believing whatever you want. You take </em><a target="_blank" href="http://matrix.wikia.com/wiki/Redpill"><em>the red pill</em></a><em> and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes’</em>.</p><p>Drie jaar later leid ik een <a target="_blank" href="http://uci.strikingly.com/">academisch onderzoeksinstituut</a>, runnen we een uitermate succesvolle Summer School en <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/fietsprofessor">Twitter account</a>, verdienden we een <a target="_blank" href="http://aissr.uva.nl/news/content/2016/01/new-research-smart-cycling-futures.html">miljoenenbudget voor onderzoek naar fietsinnovaties</a> van NWO, worden Amsterdamse <a target="_blank" href="http://www.verkeersnetacademy.nl/sessions/desire-lines-als-input-voor-verbeterd-kruispuntontwerp-kees-vernooij-gemeente-amsterdam/">kruispunten</a> ‘<a target="_blank"...<a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/een-insider-outsider-perspectief-op-de-fietszwerm>Read More</a>Smart Cycling FuturesThu, 03 Mar 2016 12:43:30 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/smart-cycling-futures
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/smart-cycling-futures<p>The new research programme 'Smart Cycling Futures (SCF)' investigates how smart cycling innovations ─ including ICT-enabled cycling innovations, infrastructures, and social innovations like new business models ─ contribute to more resilient and liveable Dutch urban regions.</p><p>Cycling booms in many Dutch cities. While smart cycling innovations promise to increase cycling’s modal share in the (peri-)urban transport system even further, little is understood of their impact or cost and benefit. Cycling innovations benefit urban regions in terms of accessibility, equality, health, liveability, and decreasing CO2-emissions when socially well embedded.</p><p>Going beyond analysis, this research consortium will assess the economic, social, and spatial impacts of cycling on urban regions. It brings together four Dutch regions through academic institutions (three general and one applied-science universities); governmental authorities (urban and regional); and market players (innovative entrepreneurs). Together, they answer practice-based questions in a transdisciplinary and problem-oriented fashion. The research program is funded within the NWO SURF funding scheme. Project period: April 2016-March 2021.</p><p><strong>Consortium</strong></p><p>UU (prof. Rob Raven), UvA/AISSR (Marco Brömmelstroet and Luca Bertolini), TUE, Tilburg Universiteit, Windesheim, Min. van WVS, Stadsregio Amsterdam, gemeente Amsterdam, gemeente Eindhoven, gemeente Utrecht, gemeente Zwolle, provincie Noord-Brabant, provincie Utrecht, provincie Overijssel, CROW.</p><a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/smart-cycling-futures>Read More</a>Mobility and Social CapitalThu, 03 Mar 2016 09:52:49 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/mobility-and-social-capital
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/mobility-and-social-capital<h3><p style="font-size:60%"><strong>Travelling together alone and alone together</strong>: mobility and potential exposure to diversity</p></h3><p>Quantity and quality of social relations correlate with our happiness and physical health. Our (feeling of) connectedness also matters for the efficacy and functioning of communities and societies as a whole. Different mobility practices offer different conditions for being exposed to other people and the environment. Such exposure influences a sense of being connected to places, communities and societies. In transport planning practice and research, these relations are slowly getting attention. In this paper, we develop an analytical framework that offers a comprehensive understanding on if and how one’s experiences of being on the move influence the ability of an individual to develop a sense of connectedness. We develop hypotheses about these possible relations, that link literatures from mobilities research and sociology to advance transport planning research and practice. First, we discuss how the experiences of being mobile using different transport modes set different stages for the potential exposure to a diversity of socio-spatial environments. Second, we translate this into an analytical framework for understanding the relationships between connectedness and using different mobility modes. In the final part of the paper, we illustrate this by operationalising a number of potential indicators of connectedness (as dependent variables).</p><a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/mobility-and-social-capital>Read More</a>Marketing as cycling policySat, 20 Dec 2014 09:43:41 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/marketing-as-cycling-policy
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/marketing-as-cycling-policy<div>Munich is one of the leading cities in its attempts to increase bicycle use in the urban transportation system. A large part of its campaign is dedicated to the marketing of cycling. As known in the academic literature, behavioural changes is achieved mostly to changing believe systems and emotions.</div>This short video was made to find out how Munich is doing this and what others can learn. It was and still is used in Dutch transport planning practies, where the ideas are stimulating discussions on how we can use marketing better in transport planning practices.<a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/marketing-as-cycling-policy>Read More</a>Choreography of cyclist behaviorWed, 17 Dec 2014 12:57:35 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/choreography-of-cyclist-behavior
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/choreography-of-cyclist-behavior<div>The behavior of cyclists and specifically Amsterdam cyclists, is a recurring theme in the public debate. In many of these discussions, the majority of cyclists are deemed to display a strongly anarchic attitude. Although everyone can provide anecdotal evidence to confirm this allegation, there is precious little structural insight into the actual behavior of Amsterdam's cyclists.</div>
<div>
<p>In collaboration with the City of Amsterdam ten junctions were selected which seemed to show most clearly this discrepancy between design and behavior and which were practically suited as a focus for our research. Each junction was allocated to a group of three first-year sociology students from the University of Amsterdam. In the spring of 2014, during one hour, the students shot video material, which was then given an extensive quantitative analysis, focusing on the various routes cyclists took to cross the junction (with the use of Copenhagenize Consulting's Desire Lines tool).</p>
</div><p>In addition, we looked at the correlation between design and behavior, identifying three categories of cyclists, the same grouping that was used in the Copenhagen research:</p>
<ul>
<li>Conformists: cyclists who stick to all the formal rules and designed routes;</li>
<li>Momentumists: cyclists who follow their own route and adapt certain formal rules to suit their own ends, without causing any dangerous situations (e.g. turning right through a red sign);</li>
<li>Recklists: cyclists who recklessly ignore the rules, for instance crossing the road through a red light, and thereby cause conflict with other road users.</li>
</ul>
<p> Finally, in addition to the research into the actual behaviour of cyclists, the students conducted interviews in the week after the video recordings to gain insight into the experiences and emotions of cyclists at these junctions.</p>
<p>At all junctions, except at the Elandsgracht, a full quantitative and qualitative analysis has been carried out....<a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/choreography-of-cyclist-behavior>Read More</a>E-bicycle users and their experiencesWed, 17 Dec 2014 05:54:13 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/e-bicycle-users-and-their-experiences
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/e-bicycle-users-and-their-experiences<p>The sale of e-bikes is growing at a rapid rate across Europe. Whilst market data is available describing sales trends there is limited understanding of the experience of early adopters of e-bike technology. This research was funded by NWO and performed 22 in-depth interviews with new e-bike users in the Netherlands and the UK, two very different countries in terms of their levels of, and provision for, cycling. </p><p>Findings revealed that the motive for purchasing e-bikes was often to allow maintenance of cycling against a backdrop of changing individual or household circumstances. E-bikes also provided new opportunities for people who would not otherwise consider conventional cycling. Perceptions of travel behavior change revealed that e-biking was replacing conventional cycling but was also replacing journeys that would have been made by car. There was also a perception that e-biking has increased, or at least allowed participants to maintain, some form of physical activity and had benefitted personal wellbeing. Technological, social and environmental barriers to e-biking were identified. These included weight of bicycle, battery life, purchase price, social stigma and limitations of cycle infrastructure provision. The paper concludes with a series of policy recommendations that realize the potential for e-biking to promote health, wellbeing and sustainable urban mobility.</p><a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/e-bicycle-users-and-their-experiences>Read More</a>The 'bicycle-train' systemWed, 17 Dec 2014 05:51:22 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/the-bicycle-train-system
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/the-bicycle-train-system<p>When related to public transport, the bicycle is often understood as a rather static ‘feeder’ mode for access-, and sometimes egress travel to stations. We argue that combined use of the bicycle and public transport should be understood in a broader perspective, especially where bicycles link to high-speed- and high capacity services (proxied as ‘trains’).</p><p>We therefore propose to consider ‘bicycle-train’ as a distinct transport mode. The bicycle is shown a versatile means of softening the rigid nature of public transport systems and thus accommodate divergent individual and/or circumstantial travel needs. Vice versa, public transport need be understood as a means to dramatically extend the spatial reach of cycling. Together they form, in fact, a distinct transport mode. We combine a systems perspective with conceptual analysis to explore how, why and when this reconsideration is important. Fundamental to this mode is its synergy of rather opposite – yet highly complementary characteristics, for example the combination of high travel speed with high spatial permeability. We use the Netherlands as illustrative case because of the relative maturity of its bicycle-train system. These illustrations show that the synergy between high effective speed and high degree of choice are fundamental characteristics to understand the functioning of this system in a wider urban context. In our conclusion we propose a research agenda, to explore the relevance for land use and mobility planning and distil wider implications for the international debate.</p><p> </p><p>Kager, R., Bertolini, L., & Te Brömmelstroet, M. (2016). Characterisation of and reflections on the synergy of bicycles and public transport.<em>Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice</em>, <em>85</em>, 208-219.</p><p>We therefore propose to consider ‘bicycle-train’ as a distinct transport mode. The bicycle is shown a versatile means of softening the rigid nature of public transport systems and...<a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/the-bicycle-train-system>Read More</a>Effectiveness of cycling policiesWed, 17 Dec 2014 05:49:09 -0800http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/effectiveness-of-cycling-policies
http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/effectiveness-of-cycling-policies<p>With its high cycling mode share, the Netherlands is often seen as a best practice for cycling policies. However, there is little insight into the drivers behind this phenomenon, specifically which policy interventions increased cycling rates and which did not. The knowledge gap on the effectiveness of cycling policies seriously limits the potential for learning from the Dutch experience. This research addressed this gap, by exploring the performance of Dutch cycling policies in 22 medium-sized cities since 2000. First the existing ideas regarding the effectiveness of cycling policy were reviewed. These insights structured the exploration of data from Statistics Netherlands and the Dutch Cyclists’ Union, complemented with a survey of local policymakers by means of an explorative data-mining methodology called Rough Set Analyses (RSA).</p><p>Our findings revealed that the performance of cycling policy in Dutch cities is correlated with a combination of the following success factors. First of all, the way cycling policy is implemented is important: setting measurable and verifiable goals, following through with most of the proposed policy interventions, allowing for experimental measures to be explored and showing strong leadership. Second, providing adequate cycling infrastructure and decreasing the attractiveness of car use (e.g., by increasing parking tariffs and increasing the area of paid on-street car parking) are key drivers. Finally, we found that external circumstances, such as demographic trends, influence cycling policy outcomes.</p><p>Harms, L., Bertolini, L., & Brömmelstroet, M. T. (2016). Performance of municipal cycling policies in medium-sized cities in the Netherlands since 2000. <em>Transport Reviews</em>, <em>36</em>(1), 134-162.</p><a href=http://www.urbancyclinginstitute.com/blog/effectiveness-of-cycling-policies>Read More</a>